Xbox 360: The Red Ring of Death…Cure Found

So, in an earlier post the blogger stated that his Xbox 360 had a "Red Ring of Death." As he posted and worried in many forums, Destructoid, hell, even the official Xbox forums.
Choices were coming down to ending up selling it off used @ $150 and using the money to get a new Core system, then mention of the towel trick came up.
He remember a while ago reading about someone thinking about using the Towel Trick, a great user on DToid named Grim. At this point, he was willing to try anything (it had only been a day without my 360, and already he was getting the shakes)

Read more to find the cure...

[snoop_dizzle]

i still wonder how someone came up with this idea.

[ThaGeNeCySt]

I've never had the red rings of death (bought my unit at launch) but i don't know how the colors work... some pictures i see 3 rings red + power led red, and in this picture I see 3 rings red, and power LED green... how does it work?

[Bathyj]

If you get that you're screwed.

[gta_cb]

good point, i never noticed

[snoop_dizzle]

i dunno

none of my friends have had issues with theirs either.

This could be a regional thing. It would explain a lot.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

but it`s still not right.
large % of regions customers are getting screwed over.
and that`s not cool.
but i do agree.

[Nik]

Users finding the cure. I don't get it. Why issit that MS couldn't fix them?

[Shadow Flare]

1- Put one towel down, put the 360 on top, add another towel on top, cover all sides/backs/etc. This is key, you have to have that Xbox covered. When you can’t see it, finger around to find the power button and turn it on. Wait 10-15 minutes. I started at 5:22am, and then started to do crap on the computer to kill time.

2- Then I got so into other stuff, I ended up turning the system off at 5:37am, so I did the full 15 minutes, no biggie. Now it was..

3- Cool down time. I waited 15 minutes before turning back on the system as recommended.

----------------------------- -----

Bottom line - I'm so glad i don't have an xbox 360

[Skizelli]

I'm so glad you took the time to let us know that. Thanks.

[IBLEEDBLU]

whoa xbox360 looks sooo much sexy then the PS3 - man im gonna go sell my PS3 and buy a 360 - i knew u can change the face plates to make it look sexy but i have to say that towel looks amazing - the best part is u can buy different towels to match ur face plate - WHOAA!!! thats amazing - that towel xbox360 would look sexy next to my sony 46" bravia!!

............................. ........................ya u know your system is hurting when ur wrapping it towels hahahahahahahaha

EDIT********* jason - the 360 sold 50,000 to date LOL! so whats ur point? what a dumb xbot HAHAHAHAH u go towel ur system lol

and blue screen of death hahaha are u serious what 7 people have gotten it and u guys are comparing this to the over 10% failure rate that MS is having regarding the samething hahahaa nice try xbots -

[Blackmoses]

This remedy reminds me of the original NES system fix...you all know! The one where you had to blow in the cartridge and then gently place it inside the console. Then you had to make sure that the game cartridge was all the way forward and touching the edge when you pushed down, just to get the game to work...aww I remember the days.

But I don't think this fix will be anywhere as nostalgic as that one.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

The PS3 only sold 1.2 million in the US.

[omansteveo]

I guess fans of Sony are boasting bc they are'nt used to reliable hardware (i had 2 psones and 3 ps2's)so they flood these articles heckling and laughing. Im nt going to deny that the xbox has some slight hardware issues but ive had my launch one work fine it hasnt skipped a beat at some point im getting a playstation when the game library is worth the investment

[Darth Gamer]

I also went through 2 PS1's and 3 PS2's. (But I guess thats OK, right)

[Pheneus]

nor do I know anyone who does but that aside, I wonder what principle this works on...

[gta_cb]

same here

[USMChardcharger]

i also have had no issues. launch day 360.

[Darth Gamer]

and have a launch day model.

[Why o why]

This doesnt seem to happen in the uk as frequent as the us it seems. Maybe its the climate. Or maybe a different manufacturing plant doing something different. None of my friends xboxs have died even after an attempted chip.

[rusgreim]

... no problems with my 360 and I got it in Januray of 06.

[PS360PCROCKS]

Or you do what I did. You go to walmart buy a new xbox take it home, take it apart and do my lil trick with the "microsoft seal" (hello razor blade) put your broken one in the new case and your new one in your old case and VOILA Gears of War is playable! :)

[gta_cb]

lol nice! how dont they check the void sticker or anything? ...

[Why o why]

lol. That my friend has always been the way

[Shadow Flare]

to folding@home

[Bathyj]

ZING!

Thats funny. Why dont M$ do bundle pack with a free Halo Beach Towel?
And if that doesn't work try Band-Aids.

Seriously thou, if anyone gets to this stage with their Xbox, is this a long term solution or should they just send it back?

[omansteveo]

you keep talking about folding while xbox owners are playing games. Seriously Folding is a non-issue in your on going debate about system supremacy. When are you guys going to get the Ps3 is a marketing tool for the Cell processor and Folding is apart of that marketing if big name companies and businesses dont adopt the cell in the future then Sony is going to look at i as a failure. Look they're commercials they dont talk about games at all they talk about hw cell is smarter than you and how cell can to billions of calculations....not one mention of games!

[SmokeyMcBear]

haha steve.. playing games, or folding towels over their console to rid the red rings.. for a couple of days.. too funny

[razer]

Gonna just keep posting over and over in these threads? Why don't you Shadow Flare and Bathyj get a room and then you can take turns jerking each other off over a PS3!

I know you both wish you had a 360, why else would you waste your lives commenting over and over again in stories that have nothing to do with the PS3. I'm embarrased for you both!

Btw - This trick works but only for a few days. It will fail again and more frequently. The hardware is junk for the most part. MS really screwed the pooch and all early adopters are paying for it.

[Why o why]

@razer
your honesty is kool and your right about people posting on rival consoles articles. It goes both ways though. Want proof. check out this site www.n4g.com but that folding @ home dig was funny

EDIT

@ FeralPhoenix below. This goes 4 u too. You come across as intelligent and people seem to give you positives but your taking things a little too seriously. cumon, this is n4g and is full of fanboys. just for the record the ps3grill shot was funny and i didnt take offence. i take offence from people talking about things they have never touched. thats brainless. Like i said in a previous posts 360 owners should stand up to faulty hardware. You and bathj got in v in some inteliwar but still didnt come to no concensus, my point is dont take this too seriously have a bit of fun now and again. ill give ya both bubbles because despite your seriousnes you were will to back your chat with (sometimes misleeding) data not just sling mud. I can sumerise this i think. The faliure rate is not as low as ms claim and not as high as psfans believe. kool

[Black Republican]

hahahaha my friend did this with xbox1

[BubblesDAVERAGE]

No system should have a cure. (but ps2 dvd drives craped out) I'm getting a xbox 360 elite on Friday if it caps out on me they will replace it right? 120 gb here i come...

[snoop_dizzle]

you should be able to get it replaced for free.

[gta_cb]

and when you get it replaced/repaired you get another years warrenty =D (for free of course lol)

[USMChardcharger]

what ever you do...don't get the store warranty. they try and sell you a one year warranty for like $50.00. but when you open up the box your 360 is in...you will find a form to fill out and send to Microsoft for a 2year warranty for the same price of $50.00.

so for the same price you get a extra year with M$.

[SmokeyMcBear]

yeah thats true usmc.. but with the store warranty, you just walk in and get a new one. lickety split. No sending boxes in the mail, no waiting a week, just walk in and get it. I got the ps2 warranty from best buy, last february, said my ps2 was having disc reading problems (it wasnt), and bam, 150 bucks off the purhcase price of the ps3, so it does have its advantages, the store warranty that is.

[WilliamRLBaker]

he posted on numerous forums? this is why we get 50 billion reports of failing 360, cause the users sit and report bout it on like 50 different forums...

[fenderputty]

That's exactly why. It's not because large numbers of them have failed or anything. You know like my old one.

[WilliamRLBaker]

how you get your friends to come in and agree with your posts, As for that it probly is the reason, Why does or did he need to post on numerous forums? it not only inflates numbers for fanboys to use as see all these users that have problems with the 360.

I've never had a problem with mine, as well as the 9 or so million others that had no problem, Its not my fault you ran your 360 inside a lead box with no air holes or any thing, Defunct rates might be high for 360, but no where as near high as sonybots want people to believe.

It makes no sense that all these people have no problems with it, then these set amount of people seem to have every problem in the world, And its because its not alot of people that are, Its all these people that do have genuine problems, and then report it on 2 billion forums, It happend in the ps2 and xbox days, its gonna happen now.

[tplarkin7]

Don't wrap a towel around the 360 (or any machine). It isn't designed to be baked. If you get the 3 rings, just be patient and send it to Microsoft.

[gta_cb]

best way, oh and if our consoles break in the fall (or later) season we could get a 65 chip back =D

[THE_JUDGE]

Don't buy a 360. j/k but no really

[gta_cb]

yes we should all listen to you as you are of course "THE_JUDGE" =D .... but really why come out with comments like that?

[Havince]

me n my best mate got release date consoles

he never had any problems with it then got the red ring of death, he did the towel thing and it worked

i couldnt believe it lol

[Kastrol]

What is worse

1. the red rings of death

or

2. the blue screen of death

[SmokeyMcBear]

ive seen the blue screen of death.. but the threads and post were mostly referring to the psp, havent actually seen it mentioned with the ps3, but i guess ill have to look harder.

[Inasid]

Are you talking about this blue screen of death??

[tehcellownu]

Why dont microsoft give out free towels for every purchase of the 360? Even if you send it back to micrsoft to get it fixed they just goin to give you another defective one..In a way i feel bad for 360 owners they have to live in fear each day..and a lot is already emptying their wallet to get the repair. It cost them another 140 dollars.and when you get it repaired it stills dont guarantee it will work..

[razer]

I see you are fanboy flaming this entire post over and over? Do you really think in that pea sized brain of yours that anyone is going to change their mind that the 360 is the best console? Or for the most part going to listen to some 1 bubble loser?? Give it a rest man.. Find a new site to spread your crap..

[pmx]

I tried this more than 30 times and the xbox dies again, i kept trying until the video card get totally messed up, but maybe you are lucky , stop dreaming sell it for 100 or 150 bucks and get a new one or curse Microsoft for the rest of your live.

D@mn overclocked 360's, but i love what they can do,

[Ban Me]

Firstly, this has been known about for months now so why it's posted as news today I dont know.

Anyway, a bit of backstory...

According to some bullshit US legislation, any electrical product sold which can be used by a child must use lead-free solder, which as anyone with knowledge of electronics will tell you is not as good as standard solder.

So, onto the 360... the problem occurs when the 360 mainboard heats up and warps. This then causes the solder to crack, breaking the electrical connection and giving you the lovely ring of 3 red lights (which I have had myself on my 1st 360... just got a new one under warranty on Thursday).

What the towel trick does in super-heat the inside of the 360 causing the solder to remelt and create a good connection again. The thing is, as soon as the mainboard warps again the solder will in turn crack again.

It's far from a solution and if anything could easily catch fire so it's really not advisable when MS can repair it for free if under warranty or £85 if it isnt. If you do pay for a repair then get a 1 year warranty on it too. Also, you can find a local computer reapir shop who can fix it for about £50 (GameTech in Dunde for example).

So, if you want someone to blame go point your finger at the US government for their stupid rules :D

Lastly, you should really research you "news" articles before posting them. You'll be telling us P$3 Blu-Ray diodes fail next.

[Kuest]

It seems this little towel trick is deeper than first appears (I mean I never knew about the whole US government issue). anyway, Ban Me, I pretty much agree with you. Doing this towel trick might work for a couple of days (maybe weeks) but ultimately an already damaged 360 is bound to reheat. The BEST solution is probably to call MS immediately. Put the problem in their court... Still, if, like Mikels, MS doesn't BELIEVE you (the f@ck?) then I would recomend the whole towel thingy as a last resort.

[MikeIsOnFire84]

..the whole towel thing last night as a last resort.Didnt work.I was so bummed out cause I heard alot of good things about it on the internet.Its kinda funny M$ has me resorting to wrapping towels around my console.Man I feel stupid..

[young7yang]

i have the best solustion

got a tech who has experience with the xbox 360

get him to modify the fans inside the system to run at full speed at all times and then add another fan and us foil to make a ventalation to the core chips inside the 360.. this will keep system cool for about 9 hrs of games time… i can personaly confirm this works…..when i take my dvd out after long play times.. i never ever have a problem about hot dvds or red lights of death

[ItsDubC]

I did this fan mod to my original Xbox because I swapped out the HD for a bigger and faster HD (faster HD = higher operating temp). My Xbox has been sounding like a vacuum ever since but it runs flawlessly for hours on end.

Using foil to direct airflow kinda seems like a bad idea though. Personally, I'd try to find something non-metallic for that purpose.

[Vip3r]

It shouldn't break in the first place. I wonder how many idiots set fire to the towels. lol

[Ravenator529]

First, why is this being posted as "new news"? This temporary fix has been out there for a very long time.

Second, this will only temporarily fix the 360 for a short time. You will experience the red ring once again.

Third, I would only use this method to get your 360 in working order after you call M$ for repair. This method may get your 360 working long enough to cover the time it takes for M$ to send you a shipping box.

Last, don't blame anyone but yourself if your house burns down because you overcooked your 360! I couldn't imagine how hot that towel is going to get. Let alone if something were to spark and catch fire to the towels.

Good Luck!

[BIadestarX]

This is great. It's always nice to see all Sony fanboys united in bashing the 360. I mean look around... they are saying a bunch of stupid things that add no value to anything (i.e. Microsoft should add towels to the bundle)... The funny thing is that they don't have no disagree and most of them have lots of popups. This proves what I was afraid of... this site is becoming infected with brainless lemmings. Try to say anything intelligent in any of the articles posted that remotely criticize the perfect console(PS3) designed with alien technology... and you will see how you will lose bubbles and get at least 5-6 disagree.
I'm not saying that flaming PS3 articles is a good thing and should be done... but it's a big contrast between what can be said on a PS3 article and a xbox 360 article. This is why I believe it's only fair some XBox fans are entitled to go an flame PS3 articles because you fking lemmings do the same. I've tried not go into Sony fanboys and post anything unless there is something possitive about the PS3 for the past few days... Why don't you b!tches return the favor. I mean seriously, they should come up with a ban system where, idiots such as all the lemmings posting $h!t in xbox articles wouldnt be allowed to post at all on articles marked as xbox 360. Heck.. do the same for PS3 articles... Look at all these posts.... 90% of them are $h!t made by people that have $h!t for brains.

"Thats funny. Why dont M$ do bundle pack with a free Halo Beach Towel?
And if that doesn't work try Band-Aids." err.. uhahaha huhahahah haha jajaja huahahhaha... that's was kind of funny.. ahaha juhahaha..
You people are clowns.... hehe.. I mean seriously... you think that was funny? Now... what I find funny is how you manage to have so many bubbles... wait don't answer... you lemmings are all the same.. you give yourself + feedback to eachother.
Now, I am starting to understand why Some Xbox fans are so hostile against PS3 articles... you Sony fanboys are the mayority in this site.
Expect me to endup with one bubble soon... I am tired of all these morrons.

[Bathyj]

I thought Shadows F@H joke was piss funny, but then I would wouldn't I? While you're getting all upset. But then you, you would, wouldn't you?

Dude, are you really going to stand there and say I shouldnt be commenting on Xbox articles? You know I have an Xbox and you know I usually have something to say when I post and bring something to the conversation. Just happens I was having a little joke this time. And even thou I have an obvious favourite you know I dont try to talk people out of the console they like or come over to "my" side. Each to his own.

As a Xbox1 and X360 owner if theres something about them or M$ I dont like then I'm going to speak my mind. Thats why I come here. And not just to see who agrees with me but who might have a different idea, as long as in good debate and doesn't just turn into name calling.

Do you really think Xbox cops it worse than Sony? Sony been copping it for 2 years solid. Look at the hotest stories right now. The PS3 stories always get the most comments and stay alive the longest. Half the people attacking it and half the people defending it. Why aren't all these Halo stories getting 100 comment each? Because the people that are actually interested in it, show up, say their piece, and leave and then that thread dies in 2 days. Call a story "Things not going Sonys way" and see what happens.

I know you've been not flaming lately, and I've praised you for it, a couple of times. I hope you read that.
I guess we both agree fanboys are annoying.
We both agree the level of flaming is uneven.
What we disagree on is which way the scales are tipped.
Yeah I've got a lot of bubbles at the moment, but I've also been working hard the last couple of weeks to not be even, but at least fair. I know I'm not even cos I'm always sticking up for PS3, but I'm rarely bashing Xbox and never without reason. The day I get like Cyber, Jasonxg1 or some of those other guys who just turn up, insult and then leave, not adding anything, is the day I will quit posting. Have a look at one of the recent threads, how proud of himself Firstknight is just for being a troll. Talk about pathetic.

And just for the record, I've never taken a bubble from you, even thou until very recently you were an avid flamer. I disagreed with you almost everytime, but at least you brought an agruement to the table and I'm not going to try and stop anyone from talking unless they're not saying anything.

[Mighty Boom]

Brainless lemmings! You should have been on this site when it first got started. You could post anything you want as many times as you want. Hell Im guilty of starting some of the worst banter on this site a couple years ago. It was entertaining though.

[nix]

.. only the PS3 news hits the top of the page and the highest degrees... because of too many xbox fanboys (remember i said fanboys not fans) shouting over it... Halo news hardly even crosses 1000 deg...

but shadow flares F@H joke was the best... LMFAO! q:

ouch!

[Why o why]

@bladestar its true that folding joke was funny and yes some people add bul$hi+ for bul$hi+s sake but look at ze Mart. There are trolls on both sides but what i think takes the piss is that the ps has been out for a shorter time and bots still flame. EVEN ABOUT UPDATES cumon, HOW CAN AN UPDATE BE SPUN BAD? answer: ask an xbot. Both systems nice and i hope my previous comments were intelligent enough 4 ya and check this out. Retailers in the uk have been pushing extended warrentees are for most part they are a rippoff. Electrical goods arent meant to fail (manufacturing/reccuringand if a product continually fails (even after the first year) then you can get it replaced for free but consumers dont know this over here and nobody cares to tell them neither. I hear in some parts of europe they get 3 years by LAW. Thats the way to go. I understand that some things just break but all of this coverage of xbox's brickin is your leverage to pull ms into line not make you spend more and in some cases deny its happening. Paying for warrenty on a console sounds like a joke. Not even my mates in the uk who have xbox's would consider it.

[Booneral]

Let me explain one thing. It is a known fact that three red lights with 0102 error code is caused by solder points around the gpu going loose. I have seen more than 5 systems coming back to life using the "heat-gun" method, where you need to disassemble your system and apply heat around the GPU, after covering the transistors with foil (do not try this without watching the youtube video on this subject).

It might be possible letting the system overheat, covered by towels, bring conductivity back to those stupid solder points which has like micro cracks on them. Well it is not guaranteed that your system will fail again after an hour but if it works, then it's cool.

Now about the fanboys, yeah Microsoft did a lame job on assembling 360 system, it is a fact, Microsoft fans accept that, and Sony fans just stop trying to attack whenever you see a subject like this, afterall there are many people who are enjoying their systems right now and it's not like 360 is the first known hardware having failures like these.

[sak500]

Thanks to high tech cheap chinese factories in which these were manufactured. It might be that one of the factories had a QA issue and that lot had problems. Since not all launch ones had problems. But mine my launch one conked off after 3 months. By the time i got a replacement i had bought a new one. The new one is still working fine for last one year. The other one after testing is packed as a backup.

[Wargasm]

Im pretty sure this is a prank, and an excellent way to burn down your apartment.

Who would honestly think of covering their console in towels to fix a heating problem?... enough said

One thing that might work however, would be to drape a dampened wash cloth over the top of the console to cool it off while it is running

[StrboyM]

good new kathy, seem xbox fanboys have something to cheer about.

in other news, the sales of towels have seen a huge increase of 150%

[tk]

Hey chill out you defensive XB fans. Some of the jokes are really funny. Instead of being so defensive you should take MS to task for this. Just threaten a class action suit. It does not seem to be such a difficult thing to fix. Just strange that they did not manage to fix it with the Elite. Some gross incompetence going on there.

Interesting though about the towel trick to get the soldering fixed. I would just be very careful that it does not short out or cause a fire. Just be careful with that one.

[Stiffler203]

Sony Fan girls get on the Xbox 360 forums b/c there is no good news to talk about when referring to the PS3. Your system is sh!t and is nothing more then an expensive dust magnet. So why don't you fold your a$$es off our forums.

[bootsielon]

Xbot defense force, assemble!

[23478ueyur_938223]

Wondering if anyone else has had luck with this method.

If enough people do, then maybe we have found a temporary fix. Luckily it's not even difficult to pull off.

[Ludwig]

LOL, actualy, in brazil we "developed" this trick even more .. and put precisely cut erasers under the main board, preventing it from bending .. making the 360 lasts forever .. ( Microsoft did a similar thing to the latest models, we just copy it. )

That because in brazil you can't trade your 360 for a new one .. XD ..

[CompGeek]

Does anyone have a, umm, technical explanation for this?

[Ludwig]

#19 and #31

[Ban Me]

Yeah mate... I posted one ealier (#19) and so did Booneral (#24)

You probably missed them due to all the PS3 fangirl comments ;)

[The great 1]

My mate has 1 and it's broke 4 times in 3 months can anyone explain that, this may just be a fanboy comment to you all but seriously this is true the console keeps crashing during gamesplay and the screen goes all pixially also the 20GB is a joke, 7GB is needed for memory and setup menus, MS has screwed up there, i think the Xbox 360 could be the dreamcast 2, we all remember how the dreamcast used to break down with it's under piowered lasers, good console though, but any jery saying it was more powerfull than PS2 is just talking smack, because it ain't, Shenmue one of the greatest games ever had to be put on 4 disc and the lasers on that console were dogey, also i could never complete shenmue due to the fact my dreamcast wasen't registering parts of the game, characters were suppossed to be there but no, due to the dogey laser they didin't load up, so i hope for you Xbox 360 owners this is not the case.

[fatam69]

I have had two xbox 360's, a regular premium white one and an elite which I bought just a few weeks ago. My first elite got a serial number ban put in place because they caught me playing the halo 3 alpha but my friends xbox which was a launch did die. But I just wanted to say that this towel thing does work, had to turn it off and on a few times but it works, every now and then it gets abit sketchy but you can still play games and online, and thats all that matters.

[Figboy]

but this is the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard.

you have to WRAP. YOUR. 360. IN. A. TOWEL.

it's absurd.

when i'm paying over $300 for ANYTHING, it better damn sure work.

my PS3 hasn't had any problems, though i've only owned it since late February. my roommate's PS3 hasn't had any problems, and he's owned his since launch day. his 360, on the other hand, which he's owned since late December, early January, crashes and freezes CONSTANTLY.

this issue is getting ridiculous, and shouldn't not be as widespread as it is.

i really, REALLY, want to play Mass Effect, and Crackdown, and Fable 2, and Alan Wake, but i just can't bring myself to spend $400 on a console that may break, or already be defective. until it's resolved, and the defect rate is lower than what it appears to be, i'm not getting a 360. which is a shame, because i truly do want one (i don't want to miss out on some great games like the ones i mentioned above, to name only a few).

[PS360PCROCKS]

You get bubbles and an agree. Your absolutely correct we shouldn't have to do this for an electronics device that costs this much money. Like I said before I had to swap my broken one with an unbroken one from wal mart. It's absurd, wrong and downright idiotic to have to "worry" that something might break if left on too long.

[StrboyM]

I think I will go invest in towels, so I can make some money off you turds.

this gives a whole new meaning to "throwing in the towel" lmao ahhahahahahaha

broken defective piece a junk... ohh and I'm writing this from my ps3 browser... losers

[OneBubbleBastard]

there is a cure.. Thank the PS3 for helping cure the poor 180 ring of death by folding at home..

You see xbots.. ya'll were flaming our folding and yet is the reason why you have a cure for one of the many diseases ya'll got with that piece of crap..

Next 180 addon: xbot serum, for whenever your 180 is dehydrated..

[Bill Gates]

"you know your system is hurting when you're wrapping it in towels".....

Now tell me that sh!t aint funny..hahhaahhahaha

Good one IBLEEDBLU, and here I thought I was the only one with a cense of humor.

I think all of us Sony fanboys should set up a fund to buy our 360 buddy's some towels, what do you think guys?....HAHAHHAHHAHAHHAH

Instead of Folding@Home, xbots will be [email protected] AHA

.....TOWELS!!!! anyone?

[ZeroAlarm]

But seriously, lol. I might give this a go on my 360, I wonder how long it lasts for though.

[Cell-R]

It really does work, my sister was playing guitar hero about 3 weeks ago when my xbox crapped on her.
I didn't follow the directions well, did about 7-8 minutes under the towel and gave it no cooldown time. But when I hit the power button, it worked! BTW I wrapped it with her jacket, no towel.

[Counter_ACT]

You shouldnt have to wrap your console in a towel every time you want to play a game, but I am curious to know how thats worked. Has it warped the motherboard back again or something? XD

[Sly]

Interesting.........towels?... ......hmmmmmmmm

[Ps3ShellShock]

i must say that this is a funny thread...im sorry but i cant help IBLEEDU and bill gates comments

the funny thing is that they have 1 bubble each lol

but all funnies aside. there is something wrong with xbox360 if your wrapping in towels and scared to leave your system on for a day. ive been folding on my PS3 5 days straight. nothing is wrong with it and still quite as a mouse.

sony is more reliable but then again its sony - their hardware has been in homes for generation..MS is a software company - reason y i wouldnt buy anything that is associate with MS in hardware

[Magus8D]

aahh yess the towel trick. An old post can still find new life.

[sumfood4u]

Yet it gets more news than their Elite news! Kinda ironic!

[alsef07]

putting towels around it will make it hotter...wtf

[Lord Anubis]

its a shame people have to resort to that to get their system working.

[Skynetone]

is there a prize for worst made product of the century

[DADO]

Take one charcoal and put it next to your ps3 and in about a week it will make a diamond out of it. Much better than the towel trick.

[Kastrol]

seriously when i turned on my bros xbox360 for the first time i got the rings almost gave me a heart attack so i turned it off and waited till he turned it on so i didnt get the blame

so he turns it on but no power im standing there thinking its dead so he takes it out of the multi socket and sticks the power straight on the mains it works

strange because the 360 was always connect to the multi socket

just make sure the 360 is connect straight at the mains

[Ban Me]

See posts #19 and #24

To everyone who cant be bothered to read the other comments... be aware that this does not fix the problem!

Also, this method of remelting the solder has been know about for months... so why it's currently the top story is anyones guess.

This site is going downhill quicker than the PS3 is loosing exclusives.

[StrboyM]

are now offering a new bundle pack for xbox owners...

wow

[BIadestarX]

You really suck... at photoshop. If you are going to take all that time to flame the xbox 360 at least you should of read photoshop 101 or buy yourself a photoshop for dummies.. I usually don't help Sony fanboys but here is a link that may help you not sucking so bad; so we don't have to be expose to such piece of $h!t that removes any funny aspect of the joke you are trying to make.

http://www.amazon.com/Photo...

[Texas GMR]

LOL, that's good.

[sumfood4u]

That's all I'm saying! Believe It!

[DADO]

THEY WILL SAY "M$ LOVES YOU!

[BIadestarX]

That was funny the first time... You have one of the following problems.
1) You don't bother reading what your fellow fanboys wrote about... since they wrote the samething your wrote more than one.
2) You have short term memory... Yes, some insects share the same problem (i.e. fly)... You probably don't have the ability to remember what your read by the time you reach the bottom of all the comments.
3) Have nothing to say, you simply did what lemmings do... follow what others already said.

[1ben2]

lmao, someone wrote "Why dont M$ do bundle pack with a free Halo Beach Towel? "

[AzaziL]

the reason why this trick works on some occasion is the cheap construction of the 360 and the fact that if the console overheats, some chip inside literally comes off and loses contact to the motherboard. By overheating it again, there's a chance it *might* fall back into place, wow is that truly ghetto or what. and what does microsoft do to fix this?? they release a black version of the same frickin console instead of using the new ones with the 65nm chips that would've fixed the problem. I would've got an elite too because my warranty is almost up and I've had to repair twice now and I don't intend on paying $70 or whatever a year to keep my 360 running since it doesn't even last a year. Either they have to extend the warranty whenever a console fails because that's on them that they couldn't make a $400 machine last, or my 360 will be collecting dust come this holiday season because I don't know how it's going to last when halo 3 and gta iv are out.

[nice_cuppa]

sorry for all the people with problems but how can adding insulation (more heat) to 360 be a good idea ?

[DISCIPLE111]

its not a cure its only temporary maybe another 45 mins it will go red again or it could be a month ether way if your 360 was made between november to dec 2005 its screwed mine was made in nov and it fuked up bought a core made in late 2006.

[StrboyM]

Bite me.

Your just upset cause the Xbox threeshitty sucks.....I know, I know, tthis is the part where you spout some witty comeback claiming something along the lines of a lack of something or the other on the ps3, or maybe a diatribe about the price of the system, (Yawn) ...

lets try to stick to the script though.... Xbox 360's love towels. they were made for each other. matter of fact one cant survive without the other.. hahhahhahahahahah!!!

[BIadestarX]

ohh no.. I am not going to say anything about the PS3 or any other console... What I said about your $h!tting photoshop was just my contribution of honesty. This has nothing to do with the towels jokes.... What do you want me to lie about it? You suck at photoshop. I mean damn! That thing looked like it was made by a 3 year old kid.
I mean, you couldn't just describe it; instead of wasting time actually putting it together... The only thing I find funny about your picture it's that it sucks! I mean.. it sucks more than anything you ever suck before. Please don't try that again. Stick to using words to flame the xbox 360... it's embarrasing. Seriously... UGLY!

[FeralPhoenix]

Wow, I don't know or care if this works or not, but its a pretty old "trick" that somebody said worked awhile ago, but of course this would be posted as if its new info. Some keep saying you shouldn't have to wrap your console in a towel....and thats an brilliant observation because those who are resorting to this have *broken* consoles or maybe they just like that look better. -lol

What I have noticed is that, we haven't seen news or reports of large amounts of 360 failures lately, -anything near the level we saw after the launch of the 360....in fact what we do see is alot of old stuff, re-reported as if there's thousands of 360's failing today. Yeah, of course there are some 360's not associated with the launch window that WILL have defects, but that's expected for any console. It's also very convenient that so many Sonyfanboys either have had their uhm 360 console die 3, 4, times or have a cousins who's did....or they been wanting to get a 360 but don't feel comfortable since they know it will break. -lmfao, Nice.

I'm waiting to see RECENT reports from site like IGN of hundreds of 360 consoles (STILL) breaking, not one or two...its been tried recently, the one & same vid of the Elite all over the internet, every update if some cause "bricking" then suddenly its a massive amount of people affected, and stories that surface which really don't add any serious new info to the problem. IMO, I just think many Sonyfanboys don't have a clue whether or not "an alarming rate" of 360's are STILL(currently) failing, but I garuantee you in their flawed logic they "WISH", HOPE, and PRAY that the 360 does & will fail due to a "perception" that they all break, -whether its true or NOT. Why? simple they have blind loyalty to one company, which automatically makes them FEAR the success of the other console....same goes for xbox fanboys.

Now I say as I've said many times before, fortunately for Gamers, the console with the best games for the consumer will end up with the largest market share (Win). -The 360 will do just fine. That's the good and bad of the internet....anything can be spread, but sooner or later reality will take over and once the smoke clears all the guy who's decided to purchase a videogame console today, tommorrow, or a year from now will care about is: "Who has the best games?"

I know that "burns" some of you to see success of anything but your favorite console, but that's life we are after all just the few, the small hardcore, gaming enthusiasts and that's the reality....you can try your best "xbox 1.5" and "POS3" lines, but only fanboys are laughing "with" you (actually some of those jokes were really funny, but remember to be creative)...the bottom line will always be games. What you wish and hope for doesn't matter. Get over it.

[Bathyj]

IUf someone wanted to clear up all the confusion, all the speculation, all the denial by Xbots and all the over exageration by SonyDriods, there ONE organisation that can do it. They can wipe the slate clean and set the record straight. They could stop the Sonyfans lying just by giving some REAL solid numbers.

So how about it Microsoft? 10 million consoles? How many of them STILL work? If you dont want us offering opinion on lies give us some real facts to talk about.

The fact you wont only makes it look like the number is higher than you would like, not lower. I'd love to be proven wrong here M$. (Thats "proven" wrong fanboys, not just told I'm wrong.)

Since M$ is the only ones that know the real numbers, its about time they shared with us. Otherwise I think its about time the consumerwatch dog or whatever equivelant you have in the State should become involved. You might not like/agree with everything I say, but does anyone thing this sitution is really acceptable.

Everyone says they expect more from PS3 cos it cost more. Well I expect better quality from the riches entity in the world.

[FeralPhoenix]

So if only M$ would give out the specific numbers on console failures then surely that would "stop the Sonyfans from lying" -as you put it. Forgive me but what world do you live in? As if Sonyfans wouldn't say "yeah riiight" or much worse. Yeah, you mention this idea a few times but I didn't think you seriously believed it.....in fact this is what I said in response to that idea before:

"Of course M$ isn't going to divulge exact numbers, no company ever does, honestly and it serve's no major point other than fanboy wars because releasing numbers isn't what helps those affected...fixing their problem and ultimately the root cause of the problem itself helps future consumers."
http://www.n4g.com/NewsCom-...

-I even gave you a link from IGN before that supports what I'm saying:

IGN:
"Retailers are noticing improvement as well. We placed calls to Best Buy and EB Games and GameStop outlets around the country, and clerks reported that less consoles, in general, are being returned today than at launch."

-This statement in particular sheds some light on your question:

IGN:
"To Microsoft's credit, the 3% to 5% return rate is more information than Nintendo or Sony would share and the company has always been open and forthright with IGN"
http://xbox360.ign.com/arti...

-Now IGN said alot of other helpful info in that link, but the point is while the failure rate is most likely higher than 3-5%...its still more info than any other company would admit. I understand your question but honestly I find it very, very naive, if not comical given the fact that saying its this __% does not fix one 360 or help 1 customer who has a broken unit, -NO but "FIXING" the cause of the problem for future owners, including helping those already affected, will indeed be very, VERY HELPFUL to the situation....or do you think they have their priorities mixed up on this one?

I like this statement from you:

"The fact you wont only makes it look like the number is higher than you would like, not lower. I'd love to be proven wrong here M$. (Thats "proven" wrong fanboys, not just told I'm wrong.)"

-Again where have you been, and please don't be so naive....everybody, and every gaming site around already knows its higher than what M$ admitted. Do they know the exact amount, No but So what? There's nothing to prove you wrong about, you are CORRECT its higher than they admitted and lets say they said tommorrow its 10% of all the launch consoles already sold and 3% of consoles over the last year....who gives a damm if you are the one sitting there with a broken 360? -it might as well be 100% because the guy affected just wants one of the 97, 95, or 90% that do work. So what is the real motive behind "I want to know how many?"

According to IGN (a very creditable source) and based on the actual amount of confirmed reports we see now around the internet compared to the launch its evident that M$ has indeed taken the RIGHT approach, -which is to work on FIXING the problem....fanboys will always bring it up, duh their fanboys but I do think its a legitimate question for a journalist to ask Peter Moore about the failure rate, but I don't expect to ever hear a M$, or Sony exec give a straight answer...or did Sony ever tell us the failure rate on PS2 drives? -NOPE, because they settled the class action lawsuit against them and fixed it...-doesn't look like Sony faired too bad afterward, PS2 sales are amazing. I still have a question, the same question that no fanboy has ever come close to answering:

"If we should all just "give up" on the 360 because of its early above average hardware failure rate, then why didn't you give up on the PS2 because it had an early above average hardware failure rate?"

-I would love to hear a sensible, logical, unbiased answer that will pass the laugh test.

[Bathyj]

Feral you're right in that M$ coming clean wouldn't shut up Fanboys. At this point even unplugging the whole internet wouldnt do that.

I'm saying I dont buy that 3-5% at all and if they want to convince me of something different I need some real stats. If they're not willing to give real numbers, how can you blame people for speculating? I mean what else are we supposed to do but discuss it amongst ourselves?

And Dude, that IGN stories nearly a year old. If it was a problem then and theres still a percieved problem now dont you think its time we were told just how big a problem and what they're doing about it? Not just for present owners but for people who are thinking about getting XBoxes.If things are getting better dont you think they would want the comsumer to know this. Again, their silence only makes me think the worst.

[FeralPhoenix]

OK, now it seems that you are ignoring whats at the heart of what I'm trying to communicate.....

"And Dude, that IGN stories nearly a year old. If it was a problem then and theres still a percieved problem now dont you think its time we were told just how big a problem and what they're doing about it?"

-Wow, of course its nearly a year old, thats just after all the complaints recieved during the first 3-4 months which is the launch period for the console, M$ heard the complaints and it says that they made changes with their manufacturing process, so by the time this was reported 2 months later there were signs that the failure rate had turned around for the better. Take a wild guess, where 99% of the stories we hear about failed consoles today orginate from, then take another wild guess as to why you think we "STILL" hear so much about it on this site.....hmmm, I just checked IGN, you know the ones who reported that they had half their consoles in their office die -guess what -no reports or investigations of recent 360 failures -nothing. Oh and lets not talk about perception, perception on this site is warped by all the fanboys, it surely does not equal reality. -Hell according to the x-treme xbox fanboys the PS3 is already DEAD!.....now back in the real world, the "war" continues.

Oh and what do you mean, "what are they doing about it?" -Did you even read what I typed....there's "creditable" evidence they took measures to fix it after launch and they are still actively working to fixing future problems. Why would they not do that? -To not put any effort in what was a growing serious problem would be total suicide. Call M$ greedy, call M$ Evil, but calling them stupid enough not at least "attempt" correcting a obvious mistake that was being reported heavily in the media at that time, well if anybody believes that then there really is no hope for them....the loyalty they suffer from would indeed put them in the "blind lemming" category. -Sorry but there's no other way to put it if somebody truly believes that.

Now I answered the questions you asked as best as I could....we may still disagree but thats OK, I believe my answers have merit....again videogame industry none of the companies have ever given exact failure percentages and nothings changed in that dept.....now can you answer a some of the direct questions I asked? Like the last one in #58.2

[Bathyj]

Well we're obviously not going to agree, so I'll just close with this and then I'm going to bed.

Maybe I dont explain myself well enough, or maybe you just have a low opinion of me and have lumped me in with other blind Sonyfanboys like "Bill Gates" or "IbleedBlu".

You seem to think I just want M$ to give the numbers so I can say "haha, told ya so, xbox is crap, PS rulez all."
Its not just for me. Its for the people who still are thinking of getting one and are scared away.
Like it or not, news keeps coming through about broken machines. I dont think its all true. I dont think its all lies either. The answer is somewhere in the middle and I dont know what it is. Thats why I want to know.

You sound like you want me to think its all just Sonyjerks spreading FUD and we should all just shut up about it.
I'm saying as long as no one knows the truth we are going to talk about it and come up with our own theories. M$ taking the 5th amendment just makes it look worse for them. They need to restore peoples confidence that its a quality built machine because honestly, I dont feel that way. Eveytime mine makes a funny sound I look at it and expect it just to freeze. Is that confidence? Is that encouraging new people into the market?

I dont think its to much to expect any company, let alone the richest one, to stand behind their product and vouch for its quality.

And I pose this question. I dont really like bringing Sony into this because it has nothing to do with them, but...
6 months before it even launched, all the haters were predicting PS3's would be bursting into flame and malfunctioning more than not, apparently because a couple froze in a plastic casing at a game show. If the shoe was on the other foot, and Sony had failure rates of 5%+ would the Xbots let it go, or would they be howling for blood?

As for you question in 58.2
"If we should all just "give up" on the 360 because of its early above average hardware failure rate?

I'll simply copy and paste my answer from the 1st time you asked me that which is in the link you provided.

"Feral, I wouldn't like to see M$ give up and pull out. Thats just silly if anyone feels like that. They are not gamers."

Goodnight.

[FeralPhoenix]

First off, I don't think you are a blind Sonyfanboy like some others....in fact I have a high opinion of you because while I can see you definitely prefer PS3 it seems you still attempt to make sensible posts, instead of mindless garbage....otherwise I wouldn't even respond or take you seriously at all. I mean its obvious I favor the 360?...Which is why I speak out alot when I see obvious attacks on it. I don't care about criticism of the 360, I think that's helpful, M$ has reacted on many occasions to "valid" criticism, so has Sony. I'm a big gaming fan which is why own a PS3, honestly I'm not impressed yet, but first and foremost I'm a Gamer, I always buy every console and I know in time there will be certain exclusives on the PS3 I want to play (MGS4), yeah sometime I feel I should have waited, but I figured what the hell, there was no doubt in my mind that I would eventually buy it anyway so I picked up one and I'm fortunate enough that the money I spend on my hobby is not really an issue for me.

Now the only reason I keep responding is not because I want you to agree, but by repeating the same theory that I've given a valid response to already, without at least adding something new in reference to my comments seems like you aren't even grasping or not listening at all. You say:

"You sound like you want me to think its all just Sonyjerks spreading FUD and we should all just shut up about it.
I'm saying as long as no one knows the truth we are going to talk about it and come up with our own theories."

-Bro, for the last time....of course its true that launch consoles had a failure rate higher than what M$ admitted....I never, EVER said that "its all just Sonyjerks spreading FUD", but what Iam saying is that in a practical sense if M$ said what the exact failure rate is, it wouldn't change much if at all....FIXING, I say again FIXING the source of the problem, HELPS consumers and RESTORES CONFIDENCE. -The fact that you think announcing anything from M$ would help build confidence is ridiculous in my opinion because everyone would still question it, in fact it would lead to more questions...if they say 10%, people will say its probably 13, 14, 15 or 20% I mean lets be honest here that would be USELESS, except of course to all the fanboys, and frankly "most" of those extreme Sonyfanboys weren't going to buy it anyway so it doesn't matter if those same fanboys want to continue to speculate, consumers will judge the hardware for themselves in the end.

The Truth is that anyone who really likes the 360's games but is indeed worried about the failure rate will do just a tad bit of research, simple stuff like, asking the local retailers how many returns or problems have they heard of lately? or going online a bit to check "creditable" sources (not forums) and most importantly getting a warranty. The vast majority of consumers are not stupid, they know what they are getting into for $300, $400, or $600...and by the bottom line is they will decide if something is worth their money. Do 360's still break?, of course they do...but its still selling because people want it....its not like the average joe is sitting around saying damm, I really, really want a 360 but OMG I'm sure it will break....hmmm, but I can show you comments from DJ that says stuff like that. -Really DJ?

And I'll keep saying it, this site is a bad indicator of what people know and think in the real world, the reality is "warped" here, -we are the few, the truly hardcore fans...but the problem "haters" on this site will always have is the average joe only cares about which consoles has and WILL have the best games (according to their tastes). All the "flaming" back and forth is just "OUR" little game, its meaningless to the end consumer. If its still a big problem they will know. -Hell going by this site alone would suggest that the Wii should be far, far behind in sales....now back in the real world the Wii is outselling both consoles month to month.

[XboxDavey]

I'm not sure but I think this is M$ version of F@H

[Cyrus365]

Personally This is a cool "cure" but I don't understand the logic to this, wrapping it in a towel, basically incasing it, will only ADD more heat to the whole system...

Then cooling it for 10-15 mins, will I guess "Trick" them system into thinking it's at a cool temperature, thus making it a working console?

Anyways there is just too many opptunties for PS3 fans, and Video game fans to poke fun at this...

X-360 Throwing in the towel, to make it work?

X-360 new Do-Rag look...That's sick...

Forget face plates....Get Face Towels...

Anyways it's all good fun, I'm sure people didn't have their fun with PS3, it EATS money, or it's design resembling a George Foreman grill....

[chrno6]

lol this is sad...very sad.

[ShiftyLookingCow]

I don't understand how this thing works and its a crazy solution. But if it works for someone then good for him. Anyway I am hoping either my 360 dies before warranty ends or it never dies.

[thatguy]

lol wrap it in a towel....don't forget to tuck it into bed too before you sleep.

[Havince]

having a 400quid paper weight anyway or a door stop depending on what you require, my 360 is a launch one and freezes ONCE within 15 mins WITHOUT FAIL

I just grit my teeth repower it and then atleast i know it wont do it again until next time i turn it on

[ShiftyLookingCow]

wow thats interesting, wonder what causes that, atleast it works afterwards, have fun! my 360 has trouble reading game discs at times but its rare and random. Whats up with Mass Effect, havent seen much news about it lately, hope it releases in time.

[N4G_FANBOY_CRAP]

Had mine since aus launch had the red rings once (restarted and they went away) after that the rear USB stopped working so I had to put the wireless adapter in the front, then I later put it back and all is fine.

Now if it would only read my game's consistently, First time I put gears in got the
'this requires a 360 to play'

<OPINION> I think the overall build quality of the PS3 is better</END OPINION>

[ErcsYou]

playstation 3 is the cure .Just put your 360 on the right side of your ps3 and watch the magic black box melt the coponents in your 360 . no towel needed. if you have a elite you dont have to worry any ways. M$ has your back , they use a super high grade commerical nasa certified epoxy.

[nix]

.. wins the best joke of the week! Congrates Shadow Flare! q:

EDIT: someone disagreed!!! so you mean to say there was a better joke here?

[Albie360]

I do not know about this towel trick. But I know what really works. Open your xbox 360, take out the motherboard and turn it around. Look and you will find 4 memory chips. They are the problem. I used the rubber feet of an PC mother board to fix my problem. Stick this rubber to the 4 memory chips found at the bottom of your 360 motherboard. This rubber will bridge the gap between your 360's memory chips and casing when you put it all back together again and will cause the memory chips to be press hard to the morherboard. Now if they make properly contact your xbox 360 will work 100% with no problems. I fixed 3 consoles already and no problems anymore. My 2nd gen 360 also gave me 3 red lights. When I opend it M$ already did what I did with the rubber, but they used double sided tape. The tape disintegrated after a year because of all the heating. I removed the tape, put in the harder rubber feet and bingo, my 360 is still running 100%.

[Ban Me]

THIS IS NOT A CURE!

See posts #19 and #24

Now go kill yourselves so I never have to read your comments again. I will then dance on your graves when your beloved PS3 dies as all Sony products eventually do.

[Anonagrog]

1 - Someone mentioned the towel trick remelting the solder on the gpu......'HA' is all i have to say. Solder melts at around 180 degrees C, and the processors and ram in the 360 only gets up to 65 degrees max. The towel trick just makes the motherboard warp into a position that allows all contacts to be made again.

2 - Someone metioned that Error 102 is caused by the solder joints on the gpu 'coming away' from the motherboard........incorrect.. ....error 102 is just a problem related to the GPU and Ram side of the console, and not a specific problem. (You really think microsoft came up with an error that appears when the gpu pins pull away from the motherboard.......sheesh!)

3 - Towel Trick is ONLY temporary, as the 360 got hot enough the warp the motherboard in the first place and cause the 3RL, so it will do it again. Sorry! Don't waste you time doing the towel trick as it helps cure the symptoms, but not the root problem.

4 - Don't post Information that's been around for nearly a year now.

5 - If you're console is dead and out of warranty, and you're determined to get it working without paying MS for repairs, head over to the Xbox-scene forums for more information on the "heat-gun method"....it will last longer than the towel trick, but it is still only temporary. Only thing to do once you've performed the heat-gun method is to find some way of drasticaly increasing the cooling efficiency of the 360's heatsinks (again, plenty of information on this at xbox-scene).

[Ban Me]

Speaking of xbox-scene.com (which is a great site btw)...

If you want a longer term solution then read these two threads:

http://forums.xbox-scene.co...

http://forums.xbox-scene.co...

Or Google "xbox 360 xclamp"

There you go... using my last bubble for the good of mankind.

[calderra]

The best solution is not to let your console overheat in the first place. Launch-made 360 gotten Christmas Eve, works fine. It's been left on overnight, dropped off a shelf- doing jsut fine.

[anh_duong]

microsoft owns more red rings than a brothel full of ladyboys..

j/k don't flame me, okay? it's just a joke since i think ms is finally starting to solve this problem. xbox fanboys please stand down and keep away from my negative feedback button..

[THC PRITCHARD]

Next week X BOX towels. £39.99 rrp N4G £18.99

Shh TheMart is giving them a way for FREE!!!
Contact Him for more details

[Havince]

think its summet to do with not getting to the right temp quick enough of sumet,

[sandip787]

this is so pathetic. having to do something as stupid as this just so that you can keep it running for a couple more days. i agree with the others, if i pay 300 quid ($600) on ANY electrical device, i would never expect to be doing this kind of thing to keep it going. what i find really strange, is that the xbox 360 gets hot enough to MELT soldering metal. i used a soldering iron, and that is one hot beast. i know 360 isnt this hot, but it must get very very warm to effect it. and how can everyone compare failure rates of ps1 and ps2?! those were LASt gen, over 6-7 years old for ps2, thats a long time ago as far as technology is concerned. so this amount of failure astonishes me.

[Kodici]

In the UK office I work in there are 17 XBox360, 3 PS3 and 2 WII. 3 of the Xbox360 have died and been replaced by Microsoft under warranty. My machined failed after 14 months but the warranty was extended because of the bad press microsoft received.

The new machine was delivered to me by UPS and I still have the broken one so I think I will experiment with the towel fix. I can only imaging the towel causes the Xbox to overheat possible restoring broken solder contacts on the board, although this happens at 200C so this is unlikely.

Sticking it the oven might work also although not above 80C, maybe a Sauna would work providing water was not thrown on the hot coals.

[duckman2470]

This towel trick is a very old method of getting a 360 to boot up again after getting the 3-red lights. It has been around for awhile and will not fix the system. In some cases the heat induced by blocking the vents with a towel causes the mainboard to warp (the same reason it broke in the 1st place) This warpage sometimes is enough to warp the board to the point the GPU contacts touch and the system boots up again however 90% of the time the system will only work for 15min to a few hours, in rare cases it may last a week before the mainboard warps again and the same failure returns.
Doing this towel trick WILL cause more damage to the system and all the internal componets due to the excessive heat. To sum it up doing this towel trick will cause more problems and failures then just the original problem which is board warp. There is nothing that can be done to fix the 360 as it is a design flaw and any attempts such as this towel trick WILL eventualy destroy the system completely. Now is that worth getting 1 more days use? I dont think so.

The only true solution is to remove the heat from the system to avoid the boardwarp this can be done by switching to water cooling, NOT by blocking the vents & increaseing the heat inside which burns out the entire system.

[TheSadTruth]

this just fixed my 360, which got the red ring sh*t last night

thanks a lot, GR Heretic, for submitting this story, I was worried I was going to be able to play the beta

:)

[Trickedbullet]

I get the impression that more than 9 hours of gaming will finally melt the console. If this is the case, dont play for more than 9 hours. Heck, I cant even sit and play for that long in any one gaming session. Try playing for a couple hours, take a break, repeat. No wonder people die due to starvation and what not. SAD.

[MetalProxy]

Another Lord of the Rings post. I was hoping for something different.

[NYG009]

damn hope dat dosnt happen to mine

[NYG009]

HTANK GODDD!!!! I THOUGHT my xbox was broken and i was going to do this but then i gave it a check (cuz my xbox had the red circle) and it had the circle cuz the av cables werent put in good